Minimally invasive techniques and instruments for placement of intraluminal medical devices have been developed over recent years and are frequently used to deliver an intraluminal medical device to a desired point of treatment and deploy the intraluminal medical device at the point of treatment. In these techniques, a delivery system is used to carry the intraluminal medical device through a body vessel and to the point of treatment. Once the point of treatment is reached, the intraluminal medical device is deployed from the delivery system. The delivery system is subsequently withdrawn from the point of treatment and, ultimately, the body vessel. A wide variety of treatment devices that utilize minimally invasive technology have been developed and include stents, stent grafts, occlusion devices, infusion catheters, prosthetic valves, and the like.
Some intraluminal medical devices include a component that requires pre-treatment processing by a care provider or other personnel. For example, some prosthetic venous valves include a graft member that requires hydration prior to implantation. The hydration can be accomplished while the device is still in the delivery system. Also, some intraluminal medical devices, such as prosthetic valves, include a functional mechanism which is sensitive to positioning in the body vessel. For example, prosthetic venous valves may include a valve orifice that is desirably positioned within a body vessel in a particular orientation. For these devices, it can be important to achieve a desired positioning of the medical device within a delivery system during manufacturing.
Accordingly, there is a need for a delivery system which facilitates visual inspection of an intraluminal medical device within the delivery system.